Travertine Terraces
by Rob Hemphill
Title
Travertine Terraces
Artist
Rob Hemphill
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
A lonesome pine stands in front of the travertine terraces at Mammoth Hot Springs, a large complex of hot springs on a hill of travertine in Yellowstone National Park.
It was created over thousands of years as hot water from the spring cooled and deposited calcium carbonate (over two tons flow into Mammoth each day in a solution). Because of the huge amount of geothermal vents, travertine flourishes. Although these springs lie outside the caldera boundary, their energy has been attributed to the same magmatic system that fuels other Yellowstone geothermal areas.
The hot water that feeds Mammoth comes from Norris Geyser Basin after traveling underground via a fault line that runs through limestone and roughly parallel to the Norris-to-Mammoth road. The limestone from rock formations along the fault is the source of the calcium carbonate. Shallow circulation along this corridor allows Norris's superheated water to slightly cool before surfacing at Mammoth, generally at about 170 °F (80 °C). Algae living in the warm pools have tinted the travertine shades of brown, orange, red, and green.
Uploaded
December 4th, 2019
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